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Commentary

Can Trump Fire Fox News Channel By Tweet?

President Trump has fired many top administration officials over his 30-month reign -- as well as previously doing some “TV” firing on reality shows “Celebrity Apprentice” and
“The Apprentice.”

As fawning as his favorite TV news network has been to his administration -- especially from its prime-time opinion shows -- what would happen if his amped-up tough
guy attitude, now increasingly under pressure from investigations and possible impeachment hearings, turned on Fox News Channel?

Sounds crazy. Well, a lot of stuff has been crazy during his
presidency. Here’s the scenario:

After a Fox News Channel aired a Town Hall featuring Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, interviewed by Chris Wallace, the in-studio crowd gave “Mayor Pete”
-- as he is known, being the mayor of South Bend, Indiana -- a standing ovation.

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Wallace was even surprised, speaking above the crowd noise: “A standing ovation!” But the
President, who keenly watches every move on the network, wasn’t one of them.

In two May 19 tweets, Trump said: “Hard to believe that@FoxNews is wasting airtime on Mayor Pete, as
Chris Wallace likes to call him. Fox is moving more and more to the losing (wrong) side in covering the Dems. They got dumped from the Democrats boring debates, and they just want in. They forgot the
people...”

He added: “.... who got them there. Chris Wallace said: ‘I actually think, whether you like his opinions or not, that Mayor Pete has a lot of substance ...
fascinating biography.’ Gee, he never speaks well of me — I like Mike Wallace better... and Alfred E. Newman will never be President!

Fox News Channel said it pulled in 1.1 million
viewers for the May 19 event -- easily beating CNN and MSNBC in the same time period. Fluke? Now, it seems other Democratic presidential candidates are considering doing the same.

For sure,
repeating the exact same level of on-screen enthusiasm may not occur among all 20-plus candidates. In addition, location can be a factor; Buttigieg’s Fox’s appearance was in New
Hampshire.

But what if two, three, or four of those seeking high office get similar respectable positive screen time reaction?

Know this: With more pressure from all sides at Trump --
and the presidential election coming soon -- you can expect more blunt Trump tweets. And maybe even a call to action aimed at his base.

Buttigieg responded to his performance with this May 19
tweet:

“The way folks responded to the Fox News Town Hall tonight shows that we can connect with people anywhere while standing firm on our values...”

The left loves to mock the Fox News tagline "fair and balanced" but this seems to me to be an example that demonstrates the truth in that very branding. Not a fan of Fox, and missed that Town Hall. But based upon what I hear about Fox News, this would have to be considered an unmitigated feather in its cap.